“It has been so long a build up that it is strange to see these two in ring.” British broadcasting legend Ian Darke’s astute observation when the first bell rang on Lennox Lewis versus Mike Tyson crystallised the thought that had been on most fight fans’ minds during the agonising wait for their 2002 world heavyweight title clash.

This article is basically a fantasy. The writer wants Haye to win so badly that he dreamed up a bunch of nonsense observations about skill levels that Haye has never really displayed.

The fact that he actually went down the road of "Haye might actually outjab Wlad" just showed how far out of touch with reality he is.

It is speculative, only natural considering the two have yet to fight. Hagler-Hearns is a reasonable comparison and the Steward link is there. Mercer out-jabbed Lewis, who is better than Wlad in every department. You can out-jab a taller man, it is about timing and Tyson in his pomp sometimes scored well with his left moving in or on the counter.

I could have just said that one or the other will get KTFO but what is the point of that.

Haye's win over Mormeck showed tactical awareness, he showed good lateral movement in the Valuev win and although it is easier to denounce him as a braggart who cannot fight his career suggests otherwise.

Both sets of fans need to let the scales drop, acknowledge that there is a reason the two are fighting for all these titles, IE they're both very good boxers, and enjoy the build up.

Cheers for the reads, guys, and hopefully it turns out to be a good fight.

It is speculative, only natural considering the two have yet to fight. Hagler-Hearns is a reasonable comparison and the Steward link is there. Mercer out-jabbed Lewis, who is better than Wlad in every department.

Lewis was more of a risk taker and a much better combination puncher than Wlad but that's it. Wlad has a faster and more powerful jab than Lewis had, and whereas Lewis often pawed with his jab or used it as a range finder, Wlad's jabs are almost always thrown with authority and power. Wlad is also much better than Lewis at evading punches by fighting tall, and he gets hit far less nowadays than Lewis did (albeit that didn't used to be the case until fairly recently). He has improved dramatically in the last three years, and a prime Lewis vs. the current version of Wlad would be a pick 'em fight.

And Mercer out-jabbed lots of people. Haye couldn't even out-jab Ruiz. His susceptibility to Ruiz's jab was extraordinary for a world class fighter, especially as Ruiz's last good win was in 2004.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neckodeemus

You can out-jab a taller man, it is about timing and Tyson in his pomp sometimes scored well with his left moving in or on the counter.

Haye has never shown either an ability to take away a world class jab, or an outstanding jab of his own. Tyson's jab in his pomp was better than Haye's, but even he had trouble landing it against good tall men. He out-jabbed Biggs, but he rarely managed to land his jab against Tucker or Smith, and Douglas beat him up primarily by comprehensively out-jabbing him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neckodeemus

Haye ... showed good lateral movement in the Valuev win

Only by running for almost the entire fight. He threw fewer punches per round than any Heavyweight champion in history. He didn't counter Valuev's jab, he just ran from it, and then pot-shotted whenever Valuev stopped throwing. That's not the sort of lateral movement that would be any use against Wlad. He has to be constantly in a position to counter, while moving laterally, ŕ la Hopkins, to have any chance, he can't just run as he did against Valuev.

He scraped an extremely narrow majority decision in that fight, against someone who had previously been much more decisively beaten by Chagaev (who couldn't win a round against Wlad), and who in the opinion of almost everyone who saw the fight except the judges, had also been beaten by a 46 year old Holyfield.

The Valuev fight cannot be seen as a reason to be optimistic about Haye's chances except in the very limited sense that in the final round he did prove that he has carried his punching power up to Heavyweight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neckodeemus

Both sets of fans need to let the scales drop, acknowledge that there is a reason the two are fighting for all these titles, IE they're both very good boxers, and enjoy the build up.

Haye proved he was a very good Cruiserweight and that he is a bone fide top 10 heavyweight (which isn't saying much these days); but that's all he has proved so far. He has done nothing so far to prove that he has any chance against Wlad. He has speed and explosiveness and power, but his boxing skills are seriously over-rated by his fans and in your article; and given that in his only fight so far against a top 10 heavyweight, he only managed to scrape a majority decision, so are his chances in this fight.

Sure, his speed and explosive power does give him a puncher's chance and potentially makes the fight exciting, but that's all he has - a puncher's chance.

And the primary reason Haye got the fight was his brilliant self-marketing skills, rather than anything he did in the ring.